Directed by William CastleWritten by Robert BlochStarring Joan Crawford, Diane Baker, Leif Erickson, Howard St. John, John Anthony Hayes

Features:

Trailers

Making-of featurette

Text discussions of Crawfordís costumes and make-up

Screen test

Rating: NR

Anamorphic: Yes

My Advice: Skip it, unless youíre a die-hard slasher fan

Carol Harbin (Baker) has had a very hard life. As a
child, she watched her mother kill her father and her fatherís mistress with an axe. Now, twenty years later, it
looks like Carolís life is turning around, as sheís about to be married. But now her mother (Crawford) has been
released from the asylum, and bodies are starting to stack up again. Whatís an innocent young girl to do?

The ďasylum/lunaticĒ subgenre of slasher films is usually very creepy, and Iím a huge fan of cinematic psychos
in general, but this one just didnít quite make the grade. The plot is no big surprise, even when they seemed to
think, in making it, that it would be...and I canít help thinking that another thirty years of film history isnít
the problem. As Joan Crawfordís last movie, it would have been nice had this one been of a higher quality, but it
just isnít. Even people who enjoy a good slasher pic now and then will be disappointed by the artistic
integrity of this film. Yes, Crawford still has it, and Baker is a lovely little ingenue, but thatís about it.
Even Crawford canít save this one from being mere camp.

The audio and video quality are better than you might
expect, but not stellar. As with many horror films, the filming is often murky, though we are treated to many nice
close-up shots of the lovely actresses posing for the camera. Crawfordís costumes deserve the additional attention
they get here. Luckily, black and white is generally sharper than color to the human eye. The producers of the DVD
did take some care to do the best they could, but with B-movie film stock this old, thereís bound to be some
deterioration, and it was probably never the best.

The extras are actually surprisingly beefy. The recently-filmed featurette is a nifty look behind the
scenes, but all too short, at about twenty minutes. Itís fun to see the trailers and the screen test, but the
real star here is the text discussion of Crawfordís make-up and her costuming. Even people who donít usually pay
much attention to these visual elements in a film will be drawn into these discussions, as well as learn a great
deal about how such decisions are made when they seem fairly straightforward.

Basically, if you love slasher movies, then you should give this one a rent as an homage to an early scream
queen and a real star. It has a gut-level entertainment. If, on the other hand, you arenít keen on the slasher
genre, or whatís more, you arenít entirely sure ďslasherĒ should be a genre, donít bother with this one.
Itís never quite creepy enough to be truly frightening, and the predictability of the plot ruins what shock value
the gore might even have.